EDLD 5397 Week 3 Discussion Post

APA and IRB

1. What did you learn about APA?  I learned that according to the American Psychological Association website, APA format was first introduced in 1929 by a group of psychologists and other professionals who wanted to establish a set of rules for the documentation of social and behavioral sciences.  The groups of psychologists and other professionals focused on a style of writing that would allow readers to find important information easily within a document.  I also learned that APA format is concentrated on fundamentals that are attributes to scientific writing.

2. Share your understanding of APA style, why it is used, and share any information about what is the most confusing or least clear aspect of APA. It’s my understanding that APA style is commonly used by professional associations, and for college and university research papers.  I found a number of websites that gave examples of APA format; however, the manual published by the American Psychological Association is all inclusive.  I understand that APA makes very specific use of style and formatting, but with so many different sections and examples it is quite overwhelming.  Nonetheless, the eight sections of an APA style document provide clear and specific information which will definitely help when writing our research findings.
3. Share your understanding of the IRB policy.  An institutional review board is a committee that has been designated to monitor and review and approve research that involves human subjects.  IRB policy is put in place to protect humans from physical or psychological harm for studies in the field of health and social sciences that includes: anthropology, sociology and psychology.   
4. Does your district have an IRB policy? If so, in what ways is it similar to the Lamar University policy? What ways is it different? Our district does not have an IRB policy per say.  What we have is a Committee for External Research Review (CERR).  In the CERR policy it requires that all research within the District adhere to federal regulations regarding family and pupil rights, privacy and protection.  It also states that all research within the District adhere to federal guidelines regarding the protection of human subjects.  Our district relies to some extent on the organization requesting to do research’s IRB to ensure that the appropriate steps to protect human subjects have been taken.  Similarities to Lamar’s policy are that of confidentiality and consent agreements, they both have strict guidelines for submission, and the Exempt Status of the research from full IRB review is the same regarding research conducted in established or commonly accepted educational settings.
Part 2B:

Post a paragraph describing your progress so far in leading your action research project.  Include at least one lesson learned.
Although I have made ample progress so far in my action research, I have also had some major setbacks.  Some of the action steps I initially wrote may not be able to be seen to their completion as written.  The goal of my action plan is to see that Response to Intervention (RtI) is consistently used to identify, monitor and support all children prior to the referral process for special education, dyslexia, 504, and/or targeted assistance.  Meeting with district leadership and representatives of district department programs has proven to be difficult, however imperative in my action research plan to develop common forms to be used across our district.  One lesson I have learned is that my action research plan may need to be revised and dates extended due to unforeseen barriers and time constraints on all stakeholders involved.